Game 14 – December 20, 2011

We all saw it on Sunday night again; another poor performance by the offense in a road game.  Seven sacks allowed, two turnovers, and only 14 points scored. The formula is simple for the Ravens in road games; score less than 20 points and go home with a loss. It’s happened four times in road games and the outcome is the same every time.

Is it the play calling? Is it Joe Flacco’s inability to effectively work the pocket? Is the offensive line just not good enough outside the friendly confines of M&T Bank Stadium?  Whatever the reasons are they add up to the Ravens being a poor road team.

Numbers don’t lie and there might be something to the Ravens being a turf team. On grass their record this year is just 2-3 while on turf they are 8-1. The Chargers loss highlights some other seasonal trends. The Ravens struggle when Ray Rice does not score a rushing touchdown as they are now 3-4 this season. Since the offense is not overly potent it can’t overcome turnovers and is now 0-4 when committing two or more. 

Although I don’t have access to actual game film, I came away from this game with two disturbing thoughts. The first is that it seems Cam Cameron is incapable of making adjustments when the running game is floundering. The second is that Joe Flacco doesn’t fully trust his receivers and relies far too much on Ray Rice as a bail out just to avoid taking a sack.

Flacco had 10 of his 23 completions to the RBs. Philip Rivers had just four completions to his RBs. Ray Rice led the Ravens with nine receptions, while WR Malcolm Floyd led the Chargers with five.  It was like watching a replay seeing Flacco make the read on his primary option then dumping off to Rice for a short gain.  Isn’t it worth taking a shot down field now and then just to keep the DBs honest?

With Christmas fast approaching I might need to send another list to Santa and ask that Norv Turner be available and looking for a job as offensive coordinator in 2012. But that would mean Cam Cameron would need to be fired first. Oh yeah, I think I can add that to the list too.

Happy holidays everybody!

Red Zone Conversion Rate for Teams with a Winning Record (done)

BTN will track the progress here on a weekly basis. Keep in mind for some categories a decrease is positive, as in the case of Fumbles lost, and an increase is negative, in as the case of Penalties.